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Monday, November 16, 2015

Monday, November 16th: 1 Chronicles 16-18, Luke 2:1-24 ~ Conrad

" That day David first committed to Asaph and his associates this psalm of thanks to the Lord:" 1 Chronicles 16:7

David continues into a psalm of thanks to the Lord in the next verses, but what I thought that was worth mentioning is that thanksgiving to God is closely related to giving praise or glory to God. The Old Testament ceremonial laws included a special thank offering to the Lord. Even Paul, when writing his letters, would often begin his paragraph with some thanksgiving to God. I believe that this element is also important in our prayer life too. We give thanks to God for His goodness and love, His just character, the new life He offers us, how He provides for us, how He cares for us, the guidance that He bestows upon us, and the list goes on and on! To sum it up, we ought to be thankful to God in ALL circumstances.

In his psalm of thanks, David says in verses 23-24 that we should:

sing to the Lord, proclaim His salvation (vs 23)
declare His glory, tell of His marvellous deeds (vs 24)

David knew that he had done some pretty great things, but more importantly, he knew that it was God who gave him his victories. It would have been easy for David to take the credit for all he accomplished, but he was humble, and recognized that he could not accomplish what he was doing without God's assistance. A good reminder for me in my life…..

In verses 10-14 of chapter 17, we read of God's promise to David in that the house and kingdom of David will stand forever. This promise was fulfilled when Jesus came into the world to establish the throne of his father David. He is now the King of kings and Lord of lords, and in control of everything and rules the entire world!

The Lord continued to give victory to David everywhere he went, and David continued to give back to the Lord. In verse 11 of chapter 18 we read that David dedicated the articles of gold, silver, and bronze to the Lord that were brought to him from the nations he conquered. He knew that God would continue to provide for him, and David gave back to the Lord all that he gained.

Our NT reading in Luke is a VERY familiar one to me (and Nathan) as we had helped our Sunday School boys over the years memorize this chapter up to verse 20. What I wondered while reading this passage, is what did the shepherds think the Saviour was actually saving them from? Did they really know? People may look for a saviour from a sickness, or from a physical hardship, or maybe in the form a new political leader in hopes of things to become better. But did they know and fully understand that the announcement was for a saviour that would deliver them from sin and death?

The shepherds were obviously interested in this news, as they hurried off to confirm this, and found exactly what the angels had revealed to them. Seeing was believing.

We already know about the news of this Saviour. But are we as excited to meet Him as the shepherds were that day? Will we stop everything we are doing to meet Him? Or maybe the better question is, are we making changes in our lives so that others will see the Saviour in us?

With news this good, I pray that I would be more like the angels and want to let others know of our Saviour.

3 comments:

19 When they were but few in number, few indeed, and strangers in it,20 they[d] wandered from nation to nation, from one kingdom to another.21 He allowed no one to oppress them; for their sake he rebuked kings:22 “Do not touch my anointed ones; do my prophets no harm.”

David recognized that God was protecting them and gave thanks. God is also protecting us in some way, do we give thanks?

One thing that struck me was how God-centered David's prayer was. Our prayers often to be very self-focused and ask for a lot of things. They are good things to ask for, and God wants us to come to Him with our needs, but how much would our prayer lives grow if also took time to focus on God and praising Him, not just for what He has done, but who He is.

I think seeing this verse before reading Luke 2 was especially meaningful for me today as usually I associate this verse with Thanksgiving and not Christmas. How true it is that we should give thanks for God's awesome plan for Jesus to be our Saviour.